Amitha wrote the poems: SHESHA NAGA, and NAVAGUNJARA THE MASTERPIECE.
Gnome & UnGnome Facts About Amitha:
Amitha Jagannath Knight (she/her) is the author of Usha and the Big Digger, part of the Storytelling Math series from Charlesbridge.
While her parents were originally from South India, she and her siblings (including her identical twin!) were born in the United States.
Dr. Amitha Jagannath Knight is a graduate of MIT and Tufts University School of Medicine.
Her name is pronounced, Uh-MEE-Thuh (rhymes with Aretha) JUG-uh-Nawth Knight.
She is a former social media manager for We Need Diverse Books.
In 2012, Amitha won the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery Award.
Dr. Knight loves stars and magic and creatures of all kinds-–she even collected unicorns as a child. (Not real ones of course! They should remain in the wild.)
Absol’s Q&A with Amitha:
Greetings, Amitha! Thanks for being our LEGEND of the WEEK!
If you could be any legendary creature (ahem..including Gnomes), who or what would you be and why?
I was obsessed with unicorns as a kid, so I guess I’d be a flying unipegasus! A flying any other creature would be pretty cool too–like a flying elephant maybe?
Yes, That does sound incredible. On occasion, I dream of flying, but we gnomes are very grounded and I definitely do not want to fly in real life.
Can you tell us a little about how you came to be a part of this unbelievable anthology?
I’m a member of the Writer’s Loft and saw the call online. I have been writing poetry for a number of years and was excited to explore mythological creatures from my own heritage.
What inspired you to write about Shesha Naga, and the vivacious Navagunjara?
Growing up in the US, I’ve often felt cut off from my South Asian culture and didn’t actually know of a lot of mythological creatures from my heritage outside of those I read in Amar Chitra Katha comic books. For this project, I was excited to do some research to learn more about Hindu mythological creatures that resonated with me because I didn’t want to stick with the well-known European creatures that are more commonly talked about in the US (like my beloved unicorns!).
Well, you truly captured some magic with your poems.
What’s great in your life right now that you want to share, personal or professional? Some wins? At the time of the writing of this blog post, I’m working on revising a fantasy novel manuscript that I’m very proud of but can’t talk about yet. Fingers crossed that this one will make it to publication one day! I’m always writing and submitting something!
Lucky for you I’m great at keeping secrets. So if you ever want to spill the rocks on your project I’m all ears (under my hat). Thanks for your time! All the woodland folk will keep their fingers, hooves, and claws crossed for you!
writersloftpress.com 